Your friends will squeal with delight when bathed in the warm glow of the all-new gas-fueled Flamethrower. With its commanding style and hyper-efficient performance, you'll be the talk of every barbeque or deathmatch.

— Flamethrower advertisement

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The Flamethrower is the default primary weapon of the Pyro. It is a long metal pole, connected by a hose to a propane tank. The tank is attached to the pole via fastening bands. A continually lit pilot light can be seen at the nozzle. The trigger is made out of a team-colored gas pump handle.

Upon pressing primary fire, the weapon will expel a stream of large flame particles at roughly 23 particles of flame each second, in what is roughly a narrow cone, at a cost of 12.5 ammunition per second. The range, speed, and travel patterns of the particles are different than that the graphics suggest. Flame particles are not obstructed by enemies or buildings owned by the opposing team, making it ideal for attacking multiple enemies. The range of the fire is very limited, but is capable of dealing heavy damage at close quarters. At its maximum range, the Flamethrower is not accurate enough to put a constant stream on a single target. Note that the weapon cannot be used underwater; it will produce harmless bubbles.

Apart from the direct damage, the Flamethrower also sets targets on fire, causing the target to burn and take additional damage for a short time. Pyros are immune to this themselves due to their fireproof suits, but will still take damage directly from the Flamethrower itself. A Spydisguised as a Pyro will still be set on fire. The afterburn can be extinguished by the Medi Gun of a Medic, a Dispenser's healing stream, contact with water, friendly Jarate, friendly Mad Milk, a friendly compression blast, the secondary attack of a friendly Manmelter, the Spy-cicle's special ability, the Dead Ringer's special ability, or any type of Health pack. Using the primary fire of the Flamethrower on a friendly Huntsman-wielding Sniper will light his arrow on fire, and an enemy hit by this arrow afterwards will be ignited; the Pyro who lit the arrow, will not receive assist credit, however.

Secondary fire causes the weapon to deliver a compression blast which can deflect enemy projectiles, push opposing players away, and extinguish teammates who are on fire. Each compression blast costs 20 ammunition, meaning it is possible to use 10 Compression blasts before needing to retrieve more ammo.

Note: Flame damage is proportional to particle lifetime instead of distance from target. Unlike most weapons, Critical hits are also affected by the scaling. Additionally, there is a very slight damage variance (±0.08 / particle) due to differences in particle angles.

Bugs

Rarely, when the Flame Thrower is turned off during full crits, the flame effect can still be seen though the fix of the loophole, unlike a similar bug with the Minigun, the "flame" can only be seen by the player.

Trivia

Modern flamethrowers were first used in the trench warfare in World War I.

Beta builds of Team Fortress 2 featured a hose connecting the Pyro's back canister to the Flamethrower. However, upon release, the hose was redirected to a propane tank on the weapon.